Letters

Editor,

Supporters of the death penalty fixate on the eye-for-an-eye maxim, convinced that capital punishment will cure society of its ills. To condone state-sponsored homicide, as does reader George Hafez in his letter in the Dec. 19 edition of the Daily Journal, is reactionary and completely ignores basic human rights.

Hafez asks of the distressful injections administered to Angel Diaz, "Should society really care what happened to him?” We should care. The purpose of the criminal justice system is to remove from society persons who commit crimes. This can be done without carelessly inflicting pain on other human beings, despite the fact that some think they deserve it.

Fyodor Dostoevsky famously said, "A society should be judged not by how it treats its outstanding citizens but by how it treats its criminals.” This is true and should be applied in a society that considers itself civilized.

Monica Sweany

San Mateo

Not all of them are terrorists

Editor,

In his letter to the Daily Journal in the Dec. 19 edition of the Daily Journal, Mr. Scott Abramson uses the death of three children in Gaza from factional violence to ask, "if these are the kind of messages Palestinians send to brother Palestinians… what kind of ‘messages’ are in store for Israelis and Jews?”

I can’t help wishing the writer might wonder what kind of "message” was being sent to the Palestinians in Beit Hanoun on Nov. 8 when, at dawn, dozens of Israeli tank shells and missiles slammed into a house, killing 11 members of one family in their sleep, including a nine-year-old child and a 73-year-old woman.

If you just watch Fox News you might not know that Palestinian children are regularly confronted day and night with military operations, shelling, house demolitions and checkpoints on their way to schools. Hundreds of children have died after being shot by Israeli troops during military ground operations or have been killed in air strikes on houses. In July alone, 36 children were killed in Gaza after military reprisals followed the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants. The Palestinian civilian population are under constant attack by a powerful, occupying military force and face terror on a daily basis. One consequence of this is that their infrastructure is becoming unraveled and factional violence is on the rise. They need our compassion and our assistance They do not deserve to be used by Mr. Abramson to, once again, air his fear-based, reason-challenged, armchair-zionist rhetoric in public.

Ken Hickmott

Burlingame

Garbage collection prices

Editor,

The Millbrae garbage fiasco continues. Rates are increased under questionable circumstances. The new rate method that allows the garbage company to keep money from selling recyclables, reduce its costs and increase profits at the rate payer’s expense is used. Rates are based on surveys of what others in San Mateo County pay although there is no way to accurately compare service levels, programs or costs. Topping this, the city expects many commercial rates from the process. The garbage company sets some rates violating the city’s code. Worse, the Public Works director implies survey results that determine our rates can be questionable. He told the City Council: "It depends on who you ask.” That is, survey results that are the heart of setting rates depend on who you ask. What does this say about the survey integrity and accuracy?

The council was told that there are factual errors in the rates. They ignore the errors and essentially all public input. How long can this go on? The debris box surveys were apparently so fouled up that those rates had to be delayed until the Jan. 9 council meeting. It is time for Millbrae residents and businesses to attend the council meetings and hold the council and staff accountable.

Lou Sandrini

Millbrae

Kudos to Belmont

Editor,

Much has been/is being written about Belmont’s no smoking venture. Kudos to that City Council for taking a stand. Most of what has been written is as an "invasion of privacy,” but nowhere have I seen it from a medical standpoint. I am highly allergic to any kind of tobacco smoke — be it pipe, cigar or cigarette. Within minutes of being near a smoker, or even sitting next to someone who is a smoker, the odors cause me to choke and I cannot breathe. Both my parents were smokers, as was my husband, but over the years I have developed this condition from "second hand smoke,” and as I enjoy life, I find the intolerance to people like me to be both rude and inconsiderate. I do my best to be considerate of those who smoke and try to stay out of their way; however, they should also be considerate of us who have allergies. Now it will be up to the various cities to be sure their planning departments have the proper construction laws in place so that smoke from one unit of a complex does not escape into other units.

Pat Dixon

Redwood Shores

Time for some

additional effort

Editor,

Regarding the story "Track demo clears hurdle” in the Dec. 13 edition of the Daily Journal.

One bright light in an otherwise dimly enlightened room? Planning Commissioner Bertha Sanchez obviously has concerns concerning the Bay Meadows Land Company/city of San Mateo plans and their transit-oriented mixed-use development. I applaud her dissent and her reasoning.

As for the other four, maybe the switch to their light is controlled by someone else. At least one of those four felt compelled to justify her "yea” vote, Commissioner Kelly Moran. But is a vision of San Mateo sans Bay Meadows race track truly a vision of the citizens of San Mateo? Moran was impressed by the amount of work each side put into this project? What sides? Who? What work? What were the results? How did that help her come to her decision? I am impressed by the what must have been an arduous 40 hours Moran spent on this issue on behalf of the citizens of San Mateo. It must have taken her at least half of that just to walk the 83.5 acres of Bay Meadows.

Did she go there on a race day? Did she speak with employees? Did she speak with neighboring home owners? So, 20 hours down 20 to go. What this project is 603 acres big, back to scouring pages no doubt. Hours of scouring does not always result in a clean house.

But it does allow Moran to state that she and her commission did not get steamrolled, no you didn’t, by golly, that had already happened, did you not notice the City Council this week looking like characters from cartoon rolled over flatulent, oops I mean flattened and smiling silly? With the Planning Commission decision the citizens continue to get rolled over, are they smiling? Are Planning Commissioners elected or appointed? Sorry off the subject, but deserves a comment:

In regards to Sue Lempert’s "Big game blues” column in the Dec. 11 edition of the Daily Journal. Did she run this by your sports editor? No mention of the 1982 Big Game, "The Play?” Come on Sue, what were you thinking? Oh, and where would Stanford be if not in the PAC 10? Maybe she should write about the history of Bay Meadows, hopefully with a little more wisdom.

Roger Slocum

Hagerman, Idaho